Autumn Celebration Rice Salad

Sometimes I hear voices in my head when I’m cooking.

Well, one particular voice. Chef Shawn, one of my culinary school instructors. I hear him yelling “That’s free flavor, chef! You’re not going to throw that away, ARE YOU?” More tips on all the ways to recognize free flavor in my “What I Learned In Culinary School, Part 3” post, but today, I’m focusing on swiss chard. I knew I wanted to use chard leaves in this autumn rice salad, because I love their slightly bitter, earthy flavor, especially when paired with sweet things like pomegranate seeds and dried cranberries.

After I chopped up the swiss chard leaves and “marinated” them in a little bit of the apple cider vinaigrette I was using for the salad, part of me wanted to just get lazy and throw the chard stems away. But as my hand, full of chard stems, was hovering over the trash can, I heard Chef Shawn screaming at me for throwing away free flavor. So, I chopped them up and threw them in the oven with the already-roasting butternut squash. Boom. Take that, voice in my head.

I’ve talked about nearly all of the other ingredients in this rice salad – butternut squash, swiss chard AND swiss chard stems, pomegranate seeds, dried cranberries, apples, pistachios and a homemade apple cider vinaigrette – but I haven’t yet talked about the most important part, the rice itself!

For this salad, I used the #1 selling basmati rice in America, Royal® Basmati Rice. This authentic basmati rice comes from the foothills of the Himalayas, and is aged for a minimum of 12 months. It is Non-GMO Project Verified and gluten free, but best of all, it’s a dream to cook with. It simmers up nice and fluffy, and not sticky at all. It has an amazing nutty flavor, making it the perfect base for this Autumn Celebration Rice Salad.

Instructions

Place squash on rimmed baking pan; toss with oil, salt and pepper. Transfer to oven and roast 30 to 35 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. During last 5 minutes of roasting time, add chard stems to pan and roast until tender.

Disclosure: This was a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Royal Basmati Rice. Sponsored posts help me pay for the costs associated with this blog (groceries…lots of groceries), and help support me as I pursue a career in recipe development and food photography. All opinions are 100% my own.

Thank you, Susan. You know, I don’t think I had even tried a real pomegranate until a few years ago, but I was hooked right away. Even if they’re a little messy, I find them really fun to “butcher,” and the flavor and texture of the seeds just adds a certain something to so many fall and winter dishes.

This salad was absolutely delicious. Maybe it was us eating it at our home away rental during the kitchen remodel. Or maybe it was the combo of butternut squash and pomegranate. Either way, I loved it. Great recipe dear!

Hi, I’m Lori! I’m a Detroit-area culinary school graduate, food photographer, recipe developer and english muffin fanatic. This blog is where I post simple, yet special, original recipes for the "home chef" in all of us.